Surgical drilling instruments may include two releasably attached modular components, e.g., a motor/locking mechanism and an attachment, where the attachment attaches to the end of the locking mechanism. These modular components serve to receive and drive a high speed cutting burr that fits through the attachment and is engaged by the locking mechanism for high speed drilling, for example, at 80,000 to 90,000 R.P.M. The motor/locking mechanism may accept different kinds and sizes of cutting burrs or bits and different kinds and sizes of attachments.
The attachment of the cutting burr or bit to the motor/locking mechanism of may be difficult to use. For example, to install the cutting burr into some surgical drills, the operator may need to attach the attachment to the locking mechanism, position a lever on the surgical drill, and then insert the cutting burr into the attachment. To remove the cutting burr, the tasks may be reversed by placing the lever into a raised position and removing the cutting burr. The process is then repeated to insert the next cutting burr. In the above process, an operator may encounter problems if the lever position is moved from the raise position before the cutting burr is inserted.
Other quick release coupling mechanisms include the use of a posterior and an anterior Double D collet. The collet housing is mounted in line with the instrument's housing and is rotatable to two positions. Rotation of the collet housing to first, locking position causes a ball to ride in a helical slot for positioning a closure sleeve to urge the locking ball into the annular groove formed in the distal end of the cutting burr to lock the cutting burr in place. For removal of the cutting burr the reverse procedure is performed. For example, the collet housing is rotated to a second position causing the closure sleeve to move away from the ball and allow it to release itself from the annular groove in the cutting burr and allowing the cutting burr to be remove. To insert another cutting burr, the cutting burr is inserted and the collet housing is rotated back to the locking position. The cutting burr cannot be inserted if the collet housing is in the locked position.
Thus, quick release coupling mechanisms pose difficulties in their use, especially during operations where a cutting burr may only be useable for less than 10 minutes, and may have to be changed several times during a surgical procedure. As such, the efficiency, ease and timeliness of the cutting burr changing procedure may affect the surgical procedure.